Father’s Day and Parish Finance Updates

As we have welcomed Father Lambert Nieme, our new Associate Pastor, as a spiritual father in St. Martha Parish and St. Mary Parish, our attention now turns to our own fathers and grandfathers, godfathers and foster fathers, as our nation celebrates Father’s Day today. Study after study shows how important it is to have a father (as well as a mother) in our lives - especially in our formative years. The Bible uses parental imagery to help us understand God Our Father - the first person of the Holy Trinity. Jesus reinforced this image when He taught us to pray. We need to be grateful for the fathers we have in our lives who are an important part of our experience of courage, strength, and unconditional love. May all Catholic men be like loving fathers for others, especially those without a father in their lives. May those fathers who have completed their lives on earth be rewarded for their faith and love in heaven!
 
As we prepare to close our fiscal year at the end of June, I need to update you on significant changes in each parish’s financial status and our shared expenses. You may recall that each parish in our collaborative has its own property, savings, and financial obligations (bills/debt). Under the watchful eyes of parishioners who make up each of our Parish Finance Councils (PFCs), parish finances are tracked separately and each parish reimburses the other for shared expenses (e.g., shared activities, and salaries for some of the Pastoral Team who serve both parishes).

Our parishes are both blessed with Offertory collections that remain stable (St. Martha) or increased this year (St. Mary), which is a sign of your commitment and ongoing support of your faith communities! However, each parish saw a drop in overall income because: there were no bequests and fewer random donations, St. Martha no longer has a tenant in the residence (over $10k loss), and the Parish Grand Annual at St. Mary fell far short of goal ($23k - the new fundraiser at St. Mary, while hugely successful, only partially offset that loss). If you have not completed your Parish Grand Annual contribution, now is your last chance, please….

As a result, and despite expenses coming in under budget overall in both parishes, the two Parish Finance Councils worked together to propose expense cuts for this fiscal year (FY2018-19) and budget changes for the next (2019- 20). I am grateful to our parishioners on the PFCs for taking on this painful task, as like you and I, they don’t want to stifle the good progress we are making in our parishes. So after consulting the Collaborative Pastoral Council and the Pastoral Team, I decided we will try to implement almost all of these recommendations from the PFCs. These changes result in cuts to: Faith Formation for Youth (e.g., fewer retreats and no pizza before class); staffing (e.g., delayed replacement of Bob Collins), and St. Mary Music Ministry (e.g., no music on certain Holy Days), to name a few.

Still, I have confidence that the faith commitment of parishioners like you will keep our parishes moving forward in our faith communities and our Local Pastoral Plan, and that these careful cuts will have only a slight limitation on our growth in the present. Please bring the faith and practical concerns to God in prayer, that as our Councils and Pastoral Team work together in leading our collaborative parishes, both our ministries and resources will continue to grow with God’s help!